The rail gang has been working in the Haverhill, MA passenger station, and I thought this was worth posting here:

This is a temporary compromise joint between new 136 lb. (I think) rail on the right and older, probably 115 lb. on the left. Note how they built up the smaller railhead with weld because they didn't have the right set of joint bars on hand. They can get away with it for a few days because it's in the middle of a station where all passenger trains stop, and the freight speed limit over the bridge is 5 MPH anyway.

Pete, that varies with era. Back when more track work was done by hand, they tended to leave more of the tie above the ballast, and ballast on top of the tie was fairly uncommon - even if the track foreman didn't make the gang sweep it off when the job was done, it would tend to shake off and fall between the ties as trains passed.

Pete, that varies with era. Back when more track work was done by hand, they tended to leave more of the tie above the ballast, and ballast on top of the tie was fairly uncommon - even if the track foreman didn't make the gang sweep it off when the job was done, it would tend to shake off and fall between the ties as trains passed.

Agreed. And those section foremen really took pride in their work. They probably still do, although now much more of their job is mechanized. But seeing that tie laden with ballast was ... well... too good to pass up..

This is a nice shot, laden with detail. One of the Herron Rail "Stanley Y. Whitney" B&M DVDs shows the process from the start, with the welder, the grinder, the heat treat process, the slitter and the signal wires bonded to the repair, all circa 1950 or so.

This thread hasn't been active for a some time, and I notice that the links contained here are for the most part no longer valid. I'm working on Civil Eng., (my seventh) so the end is in sight. I have some general questions, in no particular order, and I would appreciate any help.

I'm planning on doing three turnouts using Fast Tracks #6 for the turnout and crossover requirement. I'm using ME code 83 weathered rail, though I realize it will mean filing or burnishing in places for contact or solder joints. Unless you guys talk me out of it.

1) After the turnout is soldered together, do you glue the wooden ties in place on your roadbed, then apply the ballast, and then glue or spike the turnout in place?

2) Monster has some HO 4-hole tie plates. Is it doable to use them and use 4 spikes per tie (8 would seem excessive)? Would extra detailing points be worth the extra effort?

3) What other details should you add to the track, ballast, roadbed?

4) Is cutting all your ties (not just turnouts) to length from stripwood worth the effort in scratch building points?

5) My layout will be a very backwoods short line. Will I lose points for not having a raised roadbed like a class 1 RR would have?

6) Since I am not into exotic track work, would a 60º crossing be a good choice for the third required scratch built track element, considering limited soldering and wiring skills?

I know the questions are quite random. Any other suggestions would be appreciated and helpful.

ME's weathering is towards the black end of the spectrum. Your backwoods line might have had more orange; less grease, more rust. But I find it tiresome to brush enough paint on a rail that's already in place so there's no silver patches that show up from odd angles. Some people spray the whole thing, but I don't want my ties the exact same color as the rail.

1: I build mine in place, but it sounds like it would work. I defer to jig-users.

2. I have been told 4 spikes per tie is a requirement, and that they be more-or-less scale, e.g. ME 'Micro' rather than 'Small'. I don't know the earliest date for tie plates, but they weren't widely adopted on Class 1 RRs until WWI. Around 1970 the B&M still had a lot of yard and industrial tracks that didn't have them at all. It will go best with the judges if you dig up a prototype picture and follow it.

3. For a backwoods line, odd-shaped ties: some warped, some rounded where they were cut from a small log, maybe some with splits. Lengths should be fairly even. Ballast could just be dirt (cheapest, least durable but widely used on prairie branches). Or cinders, river gravel or slag. Or mostly dirt with patches of some or all of the better material.

4. Lightly-built RRs often used shorter ties. Creosote treatment was expensive, so a short line might not have started using it till long after the mainline roads. Ties from 'up the holler' were less standardized.

5. Not if you have some appropriate pictures.

6. 90 degree can be built with minimum filing. But look at pictures and Google's old books to count parts and figure out where you will need joint bars. A crossing would probably have had tie plates early on.

Mike, let me respond to at least some of your items. I hope that other jump in as well. I would also urge you to check locally with members of your region/division for further guidance. Gerry Leone is in your neck of the woods, so he would be a good resource.

As an aside, we are in the same position. I have six certificates done and am looking at the civil engineering as the seventh.

Before going into your questions let me say that we recently evaluated a layout here in the Garden State Division for Civil Engineering. The owner presented a turnout, a crossover, and a crossing to be evaluated. He is modeling in HO, code 83. He builds his turnouts in place, so he puts his ties down first, sands them level, an then spikes his rail in place. (I think that he might add some goo or similar adhesive to the bottom of the rail, too.) He only uses one circuit board tie, and that is for the throw bar. He does cut his own ties. His work is exquisite. He does not add tie plates, etc. He does not use any jigs or templates. When evaluating his work, he lost some points for not having details like tie plates, but it did not stop him from earning merit awards for the three items under consideration.

Now, as to your questions.

1) Adding the wood ties. One way that I saw this done was to print out the turnout template off the Fast Tracks site, mark off the position of the circuit board ties that you soldered on the turnout, and then place wood ties on the template where there are no soldered ties. The person demonstrating this had put down a light coat of spray adhesive to hold the ties in place. After sanding the ties, he placed the turnout over the template and ties, having put some goo on the bottom of most of the rails. He 'activated' the goo by running a hot soldering iron over the top of the rails. Then he spiked the rails. Finally he removed the finished product from the paper template. In places the paper did not want to come off the bottom of the ties, but it was hidden by the ballast.

I hope that others have some suggestions for this.

(2 & 3) This might vary from Division to Division a bit. If I were building the piece for a contest, I would add such details, but for a non-contest evaluations, I would probably not add them.

(4) Since the number of ties needed for these three items is not that great, I would cut, distress, and stain my own. Just my opinion, and what I will do myself.

(5) If you make it clear that you are modeling a backwoods line and have it appropriately ballasted for that setting, then you should be fine. Again, check locally for their advice.

(6) A crossover is a fine choice. The 'degree' of that crossover is up to you. I would build one that I would be likely to use down the road.

Again, I hope that others jump in with some ideas for you.

Good luck!

Bruce

Modeling the railroads of the Jersey Highlands in HO and the logging railroads of Pennsylvania in HOn3

Thanks James and Bruce for your input. I think it's plenty to get me on the right track (pun intended).

I think I'll try to build one or two in-place using the FT points and frogs tools, and spike every thing except the circuit board throw bar. If they don't work I can always then try the regular Fast Tracks method.

I posted a number of hints from my "Don't Ask How I Know This" file, and they seemed to be well received. Karl took things to heart, produced some very nice track work, posted it up, and I can't find it.

For both of you, though, one key to the process is to thoroughly clean the rail before you use it. Brand-new rail, in those lovely ME bags, is full of lubricants of one sort of another, probably from the wire-drawing process that creates the rail. Removing this before you try to use the product is essential to a Happy Experience.

Gather your prototype data, have at it, use the NMRA gauges, have a test truck or two, and take your time. It's fun, liberating, and laden with the potential for seriously cool track.